Fathom Swimwear is a relatively new swimwear range combining vibrant colours from the finest quality fabrics and luxury materials all founded by Perth designer Carly-Michelle Hanson.

Carly approached me to shoot her 2010 Swimwear Range earlier in the year to showcase on her website which at the time was still in production. The models for the job were Carly herself, and Renae Wauhop the 2010 Miss Universe Australia Runner Up! (P.S. I know who I think should have won)

So after a couple of initial discussions with Carly we realised we had about 13 bikinis to shoot. So we arranged a date for the shoot and we did all the necessary preparations but by the time the shoot day came, Carly and her creative little hands had put together another 4 bikinis! Not a bad effort, especially when they all look fantastic! Then after the shoot, she made another 2 bikinis so we had a total of 19 bikinis all up and we needed to organise another photoshoot!

So for our first photoshoot which was scheduled nice and early in the morning, management at the Cottesloe Tearooms were kind enough to allow us to use the premises as our location for the day. The tearooms offered us more than half a dozen unique individual locations to shoot at all within about 50 metres of one another. The staff at the Tearooms even supplied us with free coffee. I’m not sure if that was the influence of little Miss Universe or not. *shrugs*.

So while I’m on the subject, I’d like to give a special thank you to the gorgeous Australian Miss Universe 2010 runner up Renae Wauhop for doing a fantastic job in front of the camera. We had to work fast so having an experienced model who knew what she was doing was vital in getting the job done on time. Although we did have to wait for her to sign a few autographs but we let that slide. Just as important, is my team who are crucial for me getting a job like this done. As well as being knowledgeable and accustomed to how I work, it’s all the little things you might take for granted that make assistants incredibly valuable. Things as simple as those extra hands to carry equipment, which I’m starting to own a lot of. So a big thank you once again to Karl Pearce, Jay Wells, and new recruit Craig Gauder who all assisted in one way or another to get the job done. Your help is invaluable boys.

As for the technical details… Well I was shooting with my 5DMKII with the Canon 70-200mm 2.8 L lens pretty much all day on RAW. The setup was a two light setup. I needed to keep it nice and simple because we had to move around a lot during the day. We needed to make each location transition as quickly and smoothly as possible. I dragged my Elinchrom Ranger RX Speed AS Kit out with two action heads and they were our light sources for the day. The main light had a 90×110 Elinchrom rotalux softbox attached and the other head just had a standard 18cm reflector, sometimes used with a grid.

We also made good use of reflectors and diffusers to help control the lighting and provide fill light. How do you control the lighting with a diffuser? Well for one, you can use it to block the harsh sun off your subject and eliminate those harsh shadows. I absolutely love reflectors and they provide those subtle differences that make a good picture great. They are relatively cheap too so I always have a couple with me.

Hair and make-up was organised by Carly and we have Sang Shepherd to thank for the make-up, and the hair stylist skills belong to Jodi Snashall. They did a great job.

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